Coming off of a disappointing road loss to ACC foe Virginia Tech, it appeared the No. 58 Terrapin women’s team would have its work cut out for itself this past weekend. The Terps would have to come back from a loss by playing a game Friday afternoon and a doubleheader Saturday.
But instead of giving in to fatigue, the Terps relentlessly pressured their opponents and walked away with three victories.
The Terps (8-2) welcomed Columbia to College Park on Friday and proceeded to take the first four points of the match to clinch the eventual 5-2 victory. Sophomore Ana Belzunce and freshman Jordaan Sanford both dominated their singles matches before Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar won the No. 1 singles match, 6-1, 6-4, to seal the overall win for the Terps.
Saturday brought forth even more brilliance out of the young Terps team as they defeated California (Pa.), 6-1, and routed the Delaware Blue Hens, 7-0. The usual suspects were at hand Saturday. Belzunce kept her impressive singles streak alive as she defeated Delaware’s Dorothy Safron, 6-1, 6-0, for her ninth straight win. The doubles tandem of Sanford and Sanchez-Quintanar pushed their unblemished stretch of doubles dominance to 9-0, while Sanchez-Quintanar’s undefeated singles record continued with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Megan Doran of Delaware.
Sanford, meanwhile, won her eighth singles match with a victory over Annabel Pieschl, ranked No. 20 in Division II play, in the California (Pa.) match. She also won convincingly over her Delaware opponent, Samantha Carnall, 6-1, 6-0.
“It was a tough day for all of us since we had two matches in one day, but we were able to pull it through,” Sanford said.
The Terps got back on the right foot by thoroughly overwhelming their opponents. They secured every doubles match from their three opponents and took 18 of 21 matches on the weekend. They also won 22 of 24 sets in Saturday’s doubleheader.
“Two matches in one day is something our girls haven’t done,” coach Howard Joffe said. “We had a belly full of tennis and did a wonderful job and are now looking forward to a break.”
The Terps will not hit the courts again until March 5, when they take on No. 38 Princeton at home.
The Terrapin men’s team, though not playing as full a slate as the women’s, faced a ranked opponent in No. 73 William & Mary yesterday. The No. 63 Terps took care of business by winning two of three doubles matches and quickly clinched the match with the first three singles match victories.
Junior Maros Horny, ranked No. 58 in the country, reversed a recent downward trend and broke his streak of four consecutive singles losses with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Anton Andersson. He also teamed with sophomore Andy Magee to claim an 8-6 win in doubles.
Sophomore Tommy Laine continued to be a strong foundation for the Terps to play around. Along with fellow sophomore Jesse Kiuru, Laine clinched the doubles point with a tough 9-8 (4) win. Laine also rallied in his singles match after losing the first set by taking two consecutive extended sets, 7-5 and a tiebreaking 10-4 decisive victory, over the Tribe’s Ben Hoogland. The win improved his singles record to 9-1.
The Terps, winners of four straight matches, will head to Corpus Christi, Texas, to compete in the HEB Tournament of Champions on Friday.
munson@umdbk.com
